Quarter of judges didn’t declare interests

Johannesburg - Nearly a quarter of South Africa's judges did not declare their interests as required by a new law, the Sunday Times reported.

“Judges who fail to comply with the law must be reported to the Judicial Service Commission,” judiciary spokeswoman Lulama Luti told the newspaper.

According to a new law, all working judges had a deadline of until the end of March to disclose shares, financial interests in businesses, directorships, royalties, gifts and hospitalities worth more than R1500 that they - or their families had received.

Pat Gagai, who is in charge of compiling the register of interests said that 64 judges had not submitted the information, while 219 had done so.

Luti told the Sunday Times that one of the judges had declared that he would challenge the regulations; while another had submitted reasons for not complying with the new requirements. - Sapa